Tobias "Toby" Gad (born 28 March 1968) is a German music producer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. He is known for co-writing songs including

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He began his musical career working behind the scenes for other artists, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Every ...

's biggest hit, " All of Me", the fifth-highest certified single in

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

history, and for co-writing and producing " Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie and " If I Were a Boy" by

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

.Moore, Jayn
"Writer/Producer Toby Gad Has Breakthrough Success, Co-Writing #1 Hit "Big Girls Don't Cry" With Fergie'"
'Songwriters Universe'. Other notable works include "

Skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

" for Demi Lovato, " Who You Are" for Jessie J, " Untouched" for

The Veronicas The Veronicas are an Australian pop music, pop duo from Brisbane. The group was formed in 2004 by identical twin sisters Lisa Origliasso, Lisa and Jessica Origliasso. In 2005, the Veronicas released their debut studio album, titled ''The Secr ...

, " A Year Without Rain" for Selena Gomez & the Scene, " Don't Hold Your Breath" for Nicole Scherzinger, " Love You More" for JLS, and " I Do" for Colbie Caillat. In the third quarter of 2014, Gad was ranked the #3 songwriter in America by '' Billboard'', behind Ryan Tedder and

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

Biography

Childhood and early musical experience

Born into a musical family in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

in 1968, Gad was influenced by both parents who were established figures in the Munich music scene with their group, The Jazz Kids. His Danish father is a

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

player and a pilot. His German mother is a

psychotherapist Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

who tours the UK and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

with Brian Carrick's jazz band, the Algiers Stompers. Gad was expected to study banjo and join the Jazz Kids, but he took to playing the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

instead. At age 7, he and his brother Jens had formed their own band, the Gad Rollers, and played original rock'n'roll compositions during intermissions of their parents' gigs.

Early career successes

Although too young to get into most clubs at age 13, Toby and Jens were no strangers to the live music scene in Munich. Weekly gigs in bars, concerts in open-air summer festivals and shows in legendary live clubs such as the Domicile spread the word, and Munich hit producer Tony Monn showed interest in the brothers. Monn handed over his state-of-the-art recording studio to Toby and Jens whenever he was out of town. Monn's generosity provided a learning environment for Toby and Jens to delve into songwriting and producing. In 1986, when Frank Farian, a multi-platinum German producer ( No Mercy, Boney M, Milli Vanilli) was looking for new talent, a mutual friend turned him on to the Gad brothers' material. The next day, the boys flew to

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

and thus started a seven-year collaboration with Farian. One week later, they found three of their songs on Milli Vanilli's debut album, which later went multi-platinum. Farian produced Toby and Jens' first album ''Q''' as artists', which was followed by a live tour. Funk legend George Clinton would later hear the record and invited Toby and Jens to perform two songs on stage with his P-funk band.

Commercial breakthrough

In 1990, Toby Gad met Mauritian singer Jacqueline Nemorin. This became the beginning of a 10-year collaboration between the two. Together with Farian, Gad produced Nemorin's first album ''The Creole Dance'' on BMG. In 1994, Gad signed on with manager Klaus Frers (Daydream Music Supervizing) and produced Nemorin's second album for EMI Europe. It was also Frers who moved the duo into music production for dozens of successful TV shows, commercials and movie soundtracks. Gad and Nemorin wrote and produced the title-song for the movie '' Neverending Story III'', the music for two popular daily TV talk-shows that stayed on air for four years, and the single "The Magic of the Fall", which went on to win the BDA Gold Award in L.A. for best TV trailer concept. In 1998, Gad was hired by Spanish producer Rafael Perez to work on

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican label Fonovisa where he released three Spanish albums ''Enrique Iglesias (album), Enrique ...

' third album. That same year, Gad signed a deal with Joost Van Os, former head of Polygram.

Move to New York City

Following much success in his home country, Gad relocated to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, opening Strawberrybee studio in

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...

. The album title song and hit single " Unspoken" of Christian platinum artist Jaci Velasquez, written by Gad, Madeline Stone and O.Hatch, managed to stay half a year in the Christian ''Billboard'' top 20 single charts and was re-released on the ''Billboard'' #2 album, ''WOW Greatest Hits 2004''. Meanwhile, Gad had several successes back overseas. "Damn I Think I Love You" stayed at #1 for seven weeks and became the most sold single of 2001 in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. The #1 ''StarMaker'' album with two of Gad's songs went triple platinum.

Sita Sita (; ), also known as Siya, Jānaki and Maithili, is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. Sita is the consort of Rama, the avatar of god Vishnu, and is regarded as an avatar of goddess Lakshmi. She is t ...

's debut single "Happy" was at #1 for two weeks and remained in the top five for two months. The song was also released in the US on the '' Wild Thornberries'' soundtrack, followed by the #1 album of Sita.

Success in America

After 3 years in New York without any success, Gad was given the chance to work with MTV host Willa Ford. Their single " A Toast to Men" became a #40 radio single, appearing in the hit movie '' Barbershop 2''. Gad, with David and William Derella from DAS, worked out a co-publishing deal with Cherrylane Music Publishing and record deals for several of Gad's artists. In August 2005, Interscope Records released Texan teen Kaci Brown's album '' Instigator'', entirely developed, produced and co-written by Gad. R&B group Fatty Koo has an album on

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

on which every song is produced and co-written by Toby. He produced and co-wrote songs on the album of the Australian twins

, who scored the biggest US newcomer record deal of the year on Warner Bros. Records/ Sire Records and went double platinum in Australia. Meleni and Gad co-wrote the song " Drop It On Me" on

Ricky Martin Enrique Martin Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography incorporati ...

's 2005 album ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

''. Another artist that Toby developed for years, Lola, released her single "No Strings" on Warner Bros. Records/ Sobe, which spent 4 months on the '' Billboard'' Dance charts, peaking at #2. In 2006, Gad opened a second studio with five interns, expanding his production company Strawberrybee Music and his publishing company, Gad Songs. Gad produced the entire Blue Note Records album of Elizabeth Withers, who starred in the Broadway musical '' The Color Purple'', and contributed a song on Fergie's platinum-selling album '' The Dutchess''. He also collaborated with then 13-year-old

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

nominated actress/singer Keke Palmer on her 2007 debut album on

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

and produced a song for the second season of hit

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

sitcom '' Hannah Montana''. As an innovative producer and songwriter, Gad has been interviewed multiple times about how he writes and how he records and mixes using Logic Pro. He has been featured in '' Mix Magazine'', the ''Recording Mag'', '' Pro Sound News'' and more. In 2008, Gad and Fergie's " Big Girls Don't Cry" was Grammy nominated for Best Female Vocal Performance and won ASCAP 'Song of the Year'. The song twice broke the record for most airplay on US radio and spent a total of 21 weeks in various ''Billboard'' US charts at #1, including one week #1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Over 87 worldwide compilation albums feature the song. Gad scored his second worldwide #1 hit with

's " If I Were a Boy", which Gad produced and co-wrote. "If I Were A Boy" reached #1 in nine countries and hit top-ten in over 20 countries around the world. Gad's third platinum number one hit was the indie-electro pop anthem " Untouched" by Aussie duo

. The song sold platinum in the US and reached #1 in Ireland and Mexico.

Move to Los Angeles

In summer 2009, Gad relocated his recording studio to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The new studio, located in the Hollywood Hills, features several music production rooms and a video editing room. In Los Angeles, Gad continued collaborating with stars such as ''American Idol'' finalists Kris Allen, Allison Iraheta and Jessica Sanchez. In 2009, Gad also launched his own record label, Kite Records, which is a collaboration between himself, David Sonenberg/DAS Management, and Island Def Jam Music Group as well a
Gad Films
which features exclusive behind the scenes footage of Gad working in the studio with stars such as

Miley Cyrus Miley Ray Cyrus ( , born Destiny Hope Cyrus, November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and director. Regarded as a contemporary pop icon, Cyrus has been recognized for her evolving artistry and image reinventions. She is ...

and

. In 2011, Gad co-wrote " All of Me" for

, which, after three years of dormancy made its way to #1 on the Top 100 for three weeks and was certified 14 times platinum, making it the highest certified track in

history (tied with "

Despacito "Despacito" (; ) is a song by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi, originally written in 2015. In 2016, Luis sent the song to Puerto Rican rapper and singer Daddy Yankee to give it an "urban injection", and released it as the lead single from Fons ...

"). In 2014, Gad co-wrote 11 songs with

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

for her album '' Rebel Heart'', producing four of the songs. In 2015, Gad executive produced and co-wrote much of Leona Lewis' fifth studio album, '' I Am''. He co-wrote and produced Prince Royce's "Lucky One" on '' Double Vision'', co-wrote John Newman's "I'm Not Your Man" from '' Revolve'', and co-wrote and produced "First Heartbreak" for Grammy-nominated artist Tori Kelly's ''Unbreakable Smile''. Gad also produced and co-wrote the international charity single "Love Song to the Earth" which featured a long list of popular artists, including

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

, Fergie,

Jon Bon Jovi John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (born March 2, 1962), known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is best known as the founder and Lead vocalist, frontman of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was fo ...

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is noted for her Optimism, optimistic and Idealism, idealistic subject matter, and incorporation of genres including Rock music, rock, Po ...

, Sean Paul, Nicole Scherzinger, and more. He also produced the 2015 album of Chloe Temtchine, ''Be Brave'', which was described by the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' as "a moving collection of pop songs that document her struggle for survival, but also her recovery.""Chloe Temtchine - In Time Music, Inc.,"
tobygad.com

Single peak positions

U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Entries

The following singles written and/or produced by Toby Gad charted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100:

All Time Hits

The following singles appear on the US Billboard Year-End or All-Time Hits charts:

Grammy Wins

The following singles written and/or produced by Toby Gad as presented by The Recording Academy:

Grammy Nominations

The following singles written and/or produced by Toby Gad as presented by The Recording Academy:

UK single peaks

The following singles charted inside the top 40 of the UK Download or UK Singles Chart: * " If I Were a Boy" by Beyonce - #1 (2008) * " Don't Hold Your Breath" by Nicole Scherzinger - #1 (2011) * " Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie - #2 (2007) * " All of Me" by

- #2 (2013) * "

" by

Sam Bailey Samantha Florence Bailey (born 29 June 1977) is an English Pop music, pop singer who won the The X Factor (British series 10), tenth series of ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor'' in 2013. Following her win, her debut single, a c ...

- #1 (2013) * " Love You More" by JLS - #1 (2010) * "

" by Demi Lovato - #17 (2011) * " Who You Are" by Jessie J - #8 (2011) * " Untouched" by

- #8 (2009) * " Living for Love" by

- #26 (2015) * " Up" by James Morrison & Jessie J - #30 (2011) * " Fire Under My Feet" by Leona Lewis - #26 (2015)